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What are the criteria for a person's criminal record to be rendered spent?
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Under
the Registration of Criminals Act, there are stipulated criteria to
ensure that the need to provide a second chance to ex-offenders is
balanced with the security of the rest of society. These criteria are
listed in the new section 7B and 7C of the Registration of Criminals
Act.
First, the person must satisfy
a crime-free period. This is a period of 5 years starting from either
the date of sentence (for cases where no term of imprisonment is
imposed) or the date of release from legal custody. During the 5 years,
the person must not be convicted of another crime, or be unlawfully at
large for a crime. He must not be detained or placed under police
supervision under the Criminal Law (Temporary Provisions) Act, and he
must not be subject to supervision or admitted to a drug rehabilitation
centre or other centre for drug or inhalant abuse.
Secondly,
the person must not be disqualified from having his record spent on any
of the grounds in section 7C , which are that --
a)his conviction was for any offence specified in the Third Schedule;
b) the sentence imposed on him for that conviction included-
i) a term of imprisonment exceeding 3 months; or
ii) a fine exceeding $2000;
c) that conviction was for a crime committed within 5 years after he had been released from-
i) an approved institution under the Misuse of Drugs Act; or
ii) an approved centre under the Intoxicating Substances Act;
d)
he has been detained or subject to police supervision under the
Criminal Law (Temporary Provisions) Act anytime before that conviction;
e) from the time being, he has a warrant of arrest for any offence issued against him which is outstanding ;
f)
he has more than one criminal conviction in the register kept by the
Police, whether or not those convictions arise from the same particular
occasions; or
g) he has had any previous record in the criminal register being rendered spent
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